The increased interest in environmental awareness, and a reluctance to rely on non-renewable sources of energy, has led to greater usage of renewable energy systems, e.g. solar power, wind power, thermal power, and tidal power. The latter involves the installation of turbine generators in an area of tidal flow, and converts the energy of the tides into electrical energy.
Such hydroelectric turbine generators are positioned in an area of tidal flow, such that the motion of the seawater through the generator acts on blades, resulting in rotation of a rotor within a stator. The motion of the magnets relative to the coils of the stator causes the magnetic field generated by the magnets to induce an EMF in each of the coils. These induced EMFs provide the electrical power output from the turbine generator.
Harnessing tidal energy presents significant challenges with respect to maintenance of the turbine in order to ensure continuing and efficient operation in the harsh submarine environment. The installation and decommissioning of submarine turbine generators is relatively expensive, and it is not economic to carry out regular maintenance on the various components in the system.
In addition, in order to be economically viable these turbines must be built at a large scale. As a result the turbines and associated bases/supports are large and heavy components, and require significant lifting and transport equipment in order to achieve deployment. The use of such heavy lifting equipment is normally a hazardous undertaking, and is rendered even more dangerous when this equipment is operated at sea.
The installation process is further complicated by a shortage in the market of suitable vessels and equipment to perform such work and the extreme danger of engaging divers in high tidal flow sites.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a method of testing a hydroelectric turbine before the turbine is installed and secured on the seabed, in order to ensure that the turbine is operating as expected. This will then reduce the likelihood of having to unexpectedly retrieve the hydroelectric turbine from the seabed in the event of a fault occurring, which as stated above is a costly, time consuming, and technically challenging operation.